An Echo in the Wind
by Lord Pyrus
Summary: Not many people knew about Enatsu. In fact, the few who did know about him doubted it was his actual name, though they never brought it up. He was nothing more than a wandering sword with a little kid at his side. That was the way Enatsu liked it. It kept them both alive. (Based in the world of 'Ninja Gamer', by DragonKnightRyu.)
1. A Happy Birthday

Masaru wondered what would be different if his parents had survived sometimes. He wondered just how different everything would've been. He wouldn't have needed to rely on this... strange Kekkei Genkai of his, and he would have never obtained Hagakure. He would never have to resort to stealing and killing to survive. He wouldn't have had to drag his sister around in such a nomadic lifestyle, at risk every hour of every day.

Was he raising Hiroko right? Would they approve of his teaching of Kenjutsu and Taijutsu? Should he seek out a Hidden Village to finish Hiroko's education? Would it be worth it in the slightest? If it was, which village? So many questions with no obtainable answer.

He had heard rumors of a new Hokage in Konohagakure from the occasional merchant from the area, and the inn they were staying at shouldn't be too far from the village itself if he wasn't mistaken on its location... maybe a handful of days at breakneck pace, a week or two at a casual walk.

With some luck, they wouldn't be accosted by any shinobi until they arrived should they head in that direction. Masaru was more than confident that he could take down most shinobi that might cause issues on the road, but Hiroko was a different matter entirely.

Then there was the matter of convincing this new Hokage to let them... well, let _him_ join up so that Hiroko had a safe place to live for once. Hopefully his 'sixth sense', as his sister put it, would tell him if the Sword-Scapel was trustworthy or not.

...Kami, was he _seriously_ considering Konoha after all this time? Did they even remember the Uzumaki? It would be so risky to out themselves as Uzumaki after all this time of relative safety... so many targets painted on his sister's back... and weren't they just attacked not too long ago?

His thoughts were interrupted by a soft, small hand gently grasping his own, directing his gaze downward at the occupant of the bed he was sitting next to. "Nii-san, you were frowning again." His still half-asleep sister murmured, squinting at him as he blinked in surprise. "What were you thinking about?"

Still, he quickly replaced his previous expression with a soft smile, squeezing her hand gently. "Ah, I'm just thinking about how old I am." The comment got his desired response from his sister, which was an adorable scowl. "You're only 17."

Masaru chuckled lightly, slipping his hand from hers and poking her in the side, which drew an involuntary giggle from Hiroko. "Ah, I'm 18 now, imouto. Remember what today is?"

"Huh?" Hiroko blinked a couple times, before her eyes went wide and she burst into a smile. "That's right! Happy birthday, nii-san!" She then proceeded to quickly scoot into a sitting position to throw her arms around her brother, who accepted the hug gratefully. "I'm sorry I don't have any presents for you though..."

Masaru simply chuckled once more, gently patting her on the back. "Ah, don't worry about it. You already spoil me enough as is with these hugs of yours." His voice gained a teasing lit to it, with Hiroko giggling despite herself.

After a few moments, Hiroko let go of her elder brother, which allowed him to straighten up. "Now, since it is my birthday after all, let's get some breakfast, yeah? Something good?" His sister nodded eagerly at the offer, and slid out of bed quickly to get herself ready. As for Masaru, he simply rose to his feet and slid on his old and worn jacket, marked with old burn damage and small cuts, with Hagakure being fastened to his side right after. Glancing at himself in the room's small mirror, he touched his light brown hair, a few brown flakes stuck to his fingers. "Ah, might need more dye soon."

Yet again his musing was interrupted by his sister skipping out of their bathroom, eager to eat something a bit more tasty than their usual fare.

...Despite today supposedly being about him, Masaru didn't mind spoiling his sister instead, to keep his mind from heavier thoughts. Seeing her smile was worth every ryo spent.

**AN: So I happened to have come across DragonKnightRyu's story known as Ninja Gamer and I am happy to say that I've enjoyed it immensely so far (so if you like Naruto stories with a Gamer touch, I recommend it!). Of course, as my tendency, reading through it made my brain start spitting out random ideas and this happened to be one of them, written with permission from Ryu and some inspiration from my all-time favorite game Destiny. (So it's obviously non canon to the story, lol.)**

**I might write some more little blurbs between these two if Ryu gives the green light, and so on and so forth. Anywho, I really enjoyed jotting down this little snippet and I hope that anyone who reads it will enjoy it too! **


	2. Void Release: Field of Eradication

Masaru instinctively knew how to wield his Kekkei Genkai. While there was plenty of refinement he had to work towards, he already had a natural grasp of how to generally wield it. It was unusual, especially since he figured that such things were far from normal, along with having ridiculously sized reserves that made fine control... difficult.

The nature of his ability, though, made it annoying difficult to conceal when he practiced. He usually ended up doing it in the night time, once Hiroko was asleep in whatever inn or abandoned house they were staying in, the entrances to their room covered in seals to make sure no one would get in other than himself, or he did it when they were in between locations, nobody else around to watch him, except maybe Hiroko.

His parents had certainly never taught him anything about this ability, so Masaru ended up naming the purple energy he produced 'Void', like the void between the stars at night. It seemed... fitting. Like it was always meant to be called as such.

Still, practicing with it was hard, since (most of the time) it tended to be an 'all or nothing' kind of deal. It just didn't do things by half measures a lot, especially with his forementioned chakra reserves. Only Hagakure seemed to be able to act as a focus without exploding or disintegrating, and all he could theorize was that maybe the metal was special. It certainly wasn't any kind of metal he was familiar with after all... he had seen far too many weapons to not know at least a little about metals.

But that was not the point of this specific training session. No, this was to continue working out more techniques... and hopefully give them appropriate names. For some reason a lot of his instinctual techniques had really simple names (they just... clicked, in his head).

"Ah, here we go..." Came his quiet mutter after his usual security check. First things first, his usual practice Jutsu. The few handsigns he needed to do were done in a flash, muscle memory already doing it for him. "**[Void Release: Scatter]**." He flung a ball of purple light at a nearby rock, and on impact the energy ripped the normally sturdy material apart, splitting into several almost crystalline chunks that then also detonated, until all that was left of the sizable rock was dust.

...And a decently sized pothole from the sheer destructive potential of the Void. All from a single, fist sized chunk that took virtually no toll on his reserves. Now it was time for his experimental one.

* * *

It had taken a bit longer than he had thought to get to where he wanted with this jutsu, but until he had realized he still had to have a definitive image of what he wanted his chakra to do in his mind even after he channeled it into the ground, he had ended up making the ground beneath him blow up before achieving his goal. Several times.

While it didn't hurt him physically other than when he toppled over (due to the fact the ground beneath him was replaced by a crater), he was getting mildly irritated at both his failures and the fair amount of dust being kicked up into the air until he had this realization moment.

Another brief problem were the handsigns that he would use. He had found that these techniques were not quite as restrictive as other jutsus, the Void willing to mold according to his wishes to a degree without the need for handsigns (Hagakure being the exception, it being the perfect extension of his will, but he had firmly decided that he wouldn't cripple himself by relying solely on the blade), but the more complicated the action he was trying to do, the more he needed to figure out appropriate handsigns to properly use the technique.

But now... he began to coil his chakra as he formed the handsigns slowly, taking time to mold the volatile energy into the way he wanted. Purple energy slowly began to form around his hands even as he formed different signs, before he quickly finished the last two, forcibly directing his chakra through his feet and into the ground. He held this position for a moment, before 'releasing' the flow of chakra, and his hold on the shape thereof.

The moment he did so, the area in front of him seemed to erupt, sending dirt flying everywhere and obscuring his vision for a few seconds. When the dust and debris cleared, however, he saw Void spikes piercing the earth, some straight and others curved, but all in all the area was absolutely shredded. The lone tree that had been in his targeted area was nothing more than a few wood scraps.

Masaru let out a breath, both of relief (that his jutsu worked) and of slight concern (that took a fair chunk of time to perform... he'd need to work on it more) as the deadly spikes slowly faded into ever-shrinking motes of light. "Ah, maybe just a few more times then... I need to get up early tomorrow anyways." He had to help out a carpenter a bit for some cash, and then he had promised Hiroko that he'd keep teaching her chakra theory and a bit of Taijutsu later on. A full list of things to-do.

This Jutsu would earn its name two weeks later, when the fourteen year old ended up using it on two Kiri hunter-nin during a shinobi defection debacle... the terrifying **[Field of Eradication]**. It wasn't quite as powerful as some of his other techniques, or maybe as practical, but it was an iconic jutsu that Masaru added to his arsenal all the same.

* * *

**I've spent more than enough time dithering on actually finishing a chapter here (rather spot on for my lazy rear), but don't worry, I have so many damned chapters that aren't quite finished yet but I've gotten inspiration for writing, so expect to see at least a couple more at least within a few weeks!**

**Also, I want to thank DragonKnightRyu again for letting me write about this, and also for the huge help via a basic timeline that was sent to me to help me plan out more concrete ideas for Masaru and Hiroko! If you hadn't noticed by the rather large backtrack in Masaru's age, well let's just say that having an actual time guide allows me to churn out a few ****more interesting chapters, yeah? (And again, if you like this, go check out Ryu's story N****inja Gamer, you'll definitely in for a treat!)**


End file.
